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Cellular Technology Wiki
Welcome to the Cellular Technology Wiki Covering the history and research of cellular generation technology. Our goal is to determine the differences between todays digital cellular technologies (3rd, 4th & 5th generation's) and the original analog and digital (1st & 2nd generation) technologies. The purpose of our research is to educate anyone who is not familiar with the constantly changing cellular technologies. Many people all notice that '3G' or '4G' in the upper left or right hand corner of their cellphones - but what does that really mean? On this Wikia page, we have outlined the advancements in the cellular technologies. Chronologically, you will see a list of the different generations - starting with 1G and ending with 5G. Although the 5G has not been released to the public, readers may find themselves interested in what we believe 5G will be like. First-Generation of Cellular Technology The first-generation cellular technology, more commonly known as '1G', was introduced the United States in 1983 by Ameritech (now known as AT&T). Initially released in 1979 by the Japanese 'Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company', 1G was very basic compared to the 4 and 5 G digital technology we deal with today. Using 1G, phones were able to become wireless, therefore introducing the world to mobile telecommunications. According to The Cellphone, Analog Technology is a "short range transmitter and receiver, with technology taking many forms called standards." For those who are unaware of what standard we use in this type of research, a standard is - according to Dictionary.com - a level of quality or attainment. The application of the standard in this case relates to the fact that in order for 1G technology to work, manufacturers had to meet requirements set by legel entities, such as the U.S. government, or even commercial entities which will eventually lead to rivalry's amongst producers. Second-Generation of Cellular Technology The transition into second generation technology brought forth new comings, these included the removal of analog signals and moving to a full, digital spectrum. There was clear benefits to this. These included better overall sound quality due to probably interference from using analog radios. Since the use of digital became available, the network traffic for cell phones would then have the ability to take a higher amount of users at one time, something that older generations and technology could not do. Originally, these antennas and devices were only meant to output voice calls, and text messages (a brand new technology at the time). However, as the internet began to boom in the early to mid nineties, people began to want to access the internet from their cell phones. At the time, this was mostly for email. However, the current technology at the time allowed for a maximum transfer rate of 14.4 kbps, which wasn't very fast. However, before 3G technology could be fully introduced, an increment was made. Instead of only being connected to the network when you made a call selection or connected to the internet at certain periods, you were now constantly connected. This increment, often called "2.5G or EDGE", allowed for carriers to begin charging by the amount of data you were using for the first time. It also allowed for faster speeds and greater bandwidth throughout the network. All carriers deployed the service, however the standard of what was considered a "true" 3rd generation jump was not met, and thus we were still at 2G. This is where the beginning of the later naming schemes of generations of technology began to become messed up. This was better than 2G, but not good enough to be 3G. Third-Generation of Cellular Technology 3G technology was introduced in October of 2001 by the Japanese NTT DoCoMo company. Third-generation technology is a digital technology that has allowed for the use of smart phone technology - a true hump in technology compared to the 1st and 2nd generations. According to HowStuffWorks.com, "3G networks have potential transfer speeds of up to 3 Mbps (about 15 seconds to download a 3-minute MP3 song). For comparison, the fastest 2G phones can achieve up to 144 Kbps (about 8 minutes to download a 3-minute song)." Fourth-Generation of Cellular Technology Fourth generation mobile telecommunications technology was the technology planned to succeed the 3G systems. Not only does it plan on improving in the fields of visual voice and other 3G systems, but also to provide a larger, more broad ultra-broadband internet access. This means that it can be access through wireless modems, tablets, radios and other devices on top of cell phones. The current requirements set by the International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced is for peak speeds to be at 100 megabits per second from high mobility communication locations sucs as cars, and for 1 gigabit per second peak data speeds from low mobility communication users, such as pedestrians and users that are not moving. However, cellular network providers wanted to get a jump start on using a the term "4G" and began using it in their advertisements in the late 2000's, claiming that they had this theoretical limit. However, soon this was struck down by the FCC due to the lack of actual breakneck speeds. Thus, the term LTE was born. LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a term used to symbolize that cellular networks have broken by the minimum requirements of 3G, but have not yet reached the 4G requirement. LTE is used to mean that they are continuing to push towards the 100 megabit peak limit. Current technologies include HSPA+, Wimax, and HIPERMAN. These all reach speeds of 84, 83, and 56.9 megabits, respectively. On top of LTE, 4G plans to incorporate MIMO, or Multiple Input, Multiple Output. This allows for a device to send and receive data at the same time, resulting in much faster speeds. The current estimate of a true 4G delivery is early 2015. 4G is currently in almost every current smartphone, so it is extremely relevant to us. It is a technology that we see on a daily basis in advertisements and in our cell phones and mobile devices. Fifth-Generation Cellular Technology 5G is known as beyond 2020 communications, it doesnt currently have a set standard, and has yet to be pushed out to the market. The only known devices and person(s) currently using speeds & technology relative to this theory is the United States Military, so very little information on this technology has yet to be released. However, through focusing on past advancements in cellular technology, our research group has made some assumptions on what we believe a 5G technology will be like. We presume that 5G technology will be faster and more reliable as the cell coverage will range even further than what it currently does. To back up our prediction, we did a little bit more research. With some luck and a lot of effort, we managed to find credible presumptions to match our own predictions. For instance, CNN.com interviewed Tod Sizer, head of wireless research ALU Bell Lab's. Tod says, "5G won't be about more speed, necissarily. It may be faster but it will be more about meeting expectation of service quality." However, as stated before, 5G does not yet to exist - as there have not yet been any standards set to classify what '5G' is. Furthermore, according to CNN, "the current bleeding-edge tecnology, 4G, is still in its infancy. Exhisting networks have yet to come close to their theoretical maximum speeds that the technology has to offer." With this, we see that our presumption was in line with that of many other credible sources, however as they have said - no one can be sure what 5G can potentially be. Method of Research To carry out our research, our group found that it would be best to start with the first generation of cellular technology and work our way down the list chronologically. We have designed our webpage to be similar to how our research was carried out. One will see how we began to research sources that explained how 1G technology worked. We followed up with 2G technology, then 3, 4, and finally 5G. All of our research has come from credible sources such as Guy Klemens', "The Cell Phone." We believe that our research group has supplied our viewers with credible and reliable information. To-Round-It-Up As one can see, there has been a lot of advancement in the past 30 years in the area of cellular technologies. With newer software and technologies, engineers will be able to continue to develop new generations of cellular data streaming. Although the consumer's have yet to be introduced into 5th generation material, it will only be a matter of years before it becomes available to everyone. Reference's Brian, M. (2013). Cell-phone network technologies. HoStuffWworks.com. Retrieved April 7, 2014, from electronics.howstuffworks.com Galaxy S5 Concept photo. photograph. Retrieved from http://galaxys5info.com/ Goldman, D. (2012, March 8). Start thinking about 5G wireless. money.cnn.com. Retrieved April 14, 2014, money.cnn.com Klemens, G. (2010). The cellphone. Jefferson, North Carolia: McFarland & Company, Inc. The Cellphone, Clemens, Guy. 2010 Lescuyer, P; Lucidarme, T. Evolved packet system (eps): The LTE and SAE Evolution of 3G UMTS. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2008. Wiley Online Library. Web. April 14, 2014 Permalink. (n.d.). 3G Tech advancement. graph. Retrieved from http://straying-son.blogspot.com/ Suk, Y. (2003, December) Challenges in the migration to 4G mobile systems. Communication Magaizne, volume 41(12), pp. 54-59. Ziegler, C. (2011, January 17). 2G, 3G, 4G, and everything inbetween: an Engadget wireless primer. Engadget.com. Retrieved April 7, 2014, from https://www.engadget.com. Category:Browse Recent Updates Technologies today are much more advanced than the original digital technologies of the early 2000's. (The caption below shows the concept ideas of Samsung's Galaxy S5 smartphone). * Category:Browse